Conference speaker telephones, commonly referred to as conference phones, are specialized telephones used to allow several people in a room to communicate with people at another location. Conference phones typically lack a handset. Rather, a conference phone usually includes a single speaker and a number of microphones that can receive audio from 360 degrees around the conference phone, enabling multiple people located around the conference phone to communicate via the conference phone.
A common problem with conference phones is the ability to pick up who is speaking when there is background noise in a room. The background noise can make it difficult for those located farthest from the conference phone to be heard. To help with this problem, conference phones have been designed with microphones having the ability to be configured to receive audio in a specific direction through the use of beamforming, which focuses the audio received by the microphones in a selected direction.
For instance, the microphones in the conference phone may be configured to receive audio from the person speaking the loudest, while attenuating sound that is received by microphones directed in other directions throughout the room. This can minimize the pickup of background noise while maximizing the audio reception of the person speaking. The persons at the other end of the telephone connection (i.e. other location) that are receiving the audio from the conference call primarily hear the speaker with limited background noise.
Focusing microphones to receive the audio from the person speaking the loudest, while reducing the reception of background noise, enables those at the other location to hear the person speaking. However, it does not place any priority on who is speaking. Everyone is treated equally. This can make it difficult for the host of the teleconference to be heard when he or she speaks, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the conference call.
Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended.